DeCiphering the Falls
by EntityNobody
Summary: Mabel and Dipper return to the Falls three years later with their too-cool cousin, Cherie. She starts to uncover a few of the town's secrets, and before you know it, accidentally releases Bill Cipher from his stone prison. Cherie soon realizes two things; one being that you can trust no one, and two being that Bill might not actually be the main thing to be afraid of here...
1. Arrival to the Falls

**Hello fellow skin puppets! After loving Gravity Falls, I finally found a site that doesn't look down upon fanfics!**

 **I am here to write yet another Gravity Falls story! Yayyy!**

 **So, welcome to DeCiphering the Falls!**

 **Before reading; none of the characters are mine, they belong to Alex Hirsch save for Cherie, which IS mine**

 **The basic plotline is my idea unless it isn't**

 **Enjoy!**

3rd POV

Mabel and Dipper would be arriving at the stop with their cousin, Cherie, who was fifteen and of average height, looks, and smarts. Or that is, so they thought. They were the same age, and barely got to see each other, but apparently, their nearly indifferent parents thought it would be another great opportunity for 'bonding time'.

What that really meant was that they would be working yet another job at some fancy place to scrape up the money for a pack of cigarettes like the capitalists they were.

The bus jostled and bounced once more, and an uncomfortable Cherie tried looking out the window for a source of entertainment. The views were supposed to be pretty amazing up here, and he wasn't about to waste any photographic chances. She pulled out her Kodak, one of the high-resolution models , and snapped a few pics of the falls.

They were sad little things, on the verge of drying up. Its pitiful that the industrial world would be that cruel to the wildlife. Quickly, she hid the camera away in her studded denim bag, and pretended not to care again. Nobody needed to know that she had a secret soft spot.

The bus pulled up to what seemed like the middle of nowhere. This was not going to be a pleasant summer whatsoever. Mabel and Dipper excitedly got up and ran to...a run down shack with misspelled lettering? _Oh no,_ thought Cherie. Dread covered her face as she looked up at the thing, vines growing up and twirling to fit around the curve of the windows: it was her summer home.

The story was that after two years of travelling the world with his brother, Ford, Stan got tired of the adventure and went to settle down again in the Mystery Shack. I wondered what kind of person would ever want to come back to a place like this versus worldly adventures.

Cherie had thought it was going to be a quaint little tourist attraction with polished linoleum flooring and overpriced tiddlywinks, but with 'shack' in its name, this place was definitely holding up to reputation. The place of one-thousand glass eyes glued to the faux-leather molding of an unidentifiable animal.

Cherie regretfully followed her cousins into the shack, where Stan sat lazily behind the register wearing an old cheap suit and an eye patch that wasn't needed. Mabel ran up to hug him and Dipper followed behind casually.

After a few seconds of the embrace, Stan yelled in his sarcastic Grunkle-voice, "Alright, you're gonna give me ulcers with that choke-hold Mabel, and as for you Dipstick, not bad, but it'll be awhile before you can inflict some real damage like Mabel over here!"

"What's an ulcer?" said Mabel, laughing. She had finally gotten out of the metal traps encasing her teeth, and as soon as that had happened, she ate the world's supply of popcorn in a day. Dipper, Mabel, and Cherie went to the attic to unpack, a dreary makeshift bed standing out among two perfectly made others.

Cherie grumbled towards the mattress with a blanket and started unzipping her suitcase. After doing that and being bored for an hour or so, Cherie turned off the lights. "Hey!" the twins said in a unison protest. Cherie could hear the squealing of springs telling her that they had gone back to their beds in defeat.

In the middle of the night, Cherie woke to Dipper's flashlight shining upon the remains of burned paper. It had a six-fingered hand marked '3' faintly scrawled on it. Dipper then proceeded to take out a normal journal and jot down a few notes in it. He did this a few more times; rubbing the leathery looking cloth as if trying to jump-start his brain, then scribbling something down in his notebook.

"What'cha doin' Dipstick?" I asked. He nearly jumped out of the bed, but then he realized it was only me.

"Nothing!" he countered, too quick and nervous for it to actually be 'nothing'. Cherie nodded, unconvinced, then rolled back around so he wouldn't see her eyes, still pondering what had happened tonight.

"Well, night then Pine Tree," she said. Dipper shuffled around to face Cherie. "Get it? 'Cause you always wear that stupid hat dork!" Cherie thought of it as a joke, only one of many names that he were to be called.

"Don't you ever call me that name again. Not you, not anyone."

Cherie felt uncomfortable, as if the moment that had just happened wasn't exactly one of his fondest memories. She wondered what else her cousins were hiding from her.

The next morning, they were all forced as human slaves to clean the shack and sell a bunch of useless junk to random country town hicks. Cherie noticed an odd thing about some of the snowglobes; instead of regular snowballs that would rain down, they were multicolored metallic spheres, and the town had an eerie glow to it inside of those globes, like something wasn't quite right with it.

"Hey Cherieeeee!" whispered Mabel excitedly. "Wanna make this more fun?" she giggled, almost as immature as she was three years before, and Cherie grinned slightly.

"Whaddya have in mind?' implied Cherie. Mabel snickered and gestured to the vending machine with her head.

Dipper must have seen it, for he immediately said, "Nope! Remember the 'Never Mind All That' act?"

"That stuff came before you-know-what! We can at least divulge a little of the town's secrets, and anyways, she's related to the builder of it, even if by a cousin's uncle," said Mabel in a sly, almost purposeful manner, like she wanted Cherie to ask more and be intrigued.

The trick worked, because through her tough-girl layers, curiosity radiated from Cherie. "Builder of what? And what's the never mind thingy?" she exclaimed, wanting to know more. Mabel smirked at her, then input the code, all the while Dipper begging her not to.

Mabel paused for a second and realized her mistake. She flipped over the 'open' sign on the front window so that it now read 'Sorry, we're closed! No refunds ever!'

"Shoo, shoo!" yelled Mabel through the chaos. "Scram McGucket!" The well dressed stereotypical white-man walked out of the room sighing.

"Y'all ain't never gonna catch me! Whappidyoo!"

That was a twist to his looks. Everyone in this crazy town was somewhat...off. McGucket seemed rich and smart at first glance, but then broke into fake words that made no sense the next time you did a double-take.

Mabel finally input the last digit. The vending machine pulled back, revealing an old elevator.

"Great, she saw the secret elevator, nothing else to hide, now close the machine Mabel!' said an angry Dipper. She shook her head no, and proceeded to scoot Cherie inside the machine, Dipper still tugging on the back of her shooting star sweater. It was old, and you could tell the few places where it was mended by hand-sewing, but she had a sweater on all the time, so who could judge?

Dipper reluctantly followed the two girls. Mabel was about to push one of the buttons, but Dipper intervened. "This one! We're taking her to the portal room, not the one with creepy you-know-what tapestries!" He snapped, a little too much worry in his voice.

"I thought we had all those removed?" Mabel said with a troublesome grin. Dipper got to the button before Mabel, and they were off to the...portal room.

"What is the you-know-what?" inquired Cherie.

"Oh, you know, the usual...a giant scary triangle th-!"

"Mabel!" hissed Dipper. She obliged unwillingly, then winked at Cherie.

1st POV

I knew there was something off about this town! Although, I didn't quite believe Mabel's rants about there being a triangle that terrorized the town, so that story's for another day, but this!

A real life portal! I can't understand, I'm at a loss for words! The elevator grinded to a stop, and we walked out hesitantly. I couldn't believe it, right before my eyes, stood a knockoff sci-fi plastic portal. It wasn't even real. "Oh, so that's what you meant by portal, another lame attraction by your grunkle Stan," I said, disappointed.

"Wha- no! It works!" said a nervous Dipper. "Now lets get eriechay outway ofway erehay!" he whispered to Mabel. Suddenly, I got an idea.

"If it works, why don't you show me?" I said innocently.

"Yeah, Cipher's gone now, so it can't cause any harm!" said Mabel playfully, "But seriously, don't touch it," she later retorted.

Dipper nodded in agreement, and the conversation was over. The power level was at zero anyways, but that could easily be fixed with electricity. I took one long last look at the place, scrutinizing and memorizing every detail. The metal walls, the supposedly real portal, the bulletproof glass shielding us from actually touching the button turning off the portal.

That was odd, two things were, actually. Why would a cheap old man buy bulletproof glass for a sideshow attraction, and secondly, why was the off button set on the inside? Mysteries at the mystery shack...before I knew it, I was walking back into the elevator with Dipstick and Mabel. _That day sure was weird,_ I thought. When we got to the top of the elevator/vending machine, I couldn't shake the feeling that something more had happened, and that the story they were feeding me was a piece of swiss cheese.

 _Little do they know that I have paid attention the entire time._ I casually waited until they went to watch old man shows with Grunkle Stan in the living room, then tried my hand out with the vending machine code. I wouldn't go anywhere but the portal place, at least, that's what I told myself.

 **Ooooooh! I love writing cliffhangers, even though this isn't much of a twist!**

 **I promise to introduce Bill, Wendy, and other GF characters soon**

 **Episodes will hopefully be made every week**

 **Happy reading:P!**


	2. Releasing

**Back already woohoo! I can't believe we're already on to chapter 2, ya hear that meatsacks?!**

 **Please, tell me if this would technically be considered an AU, I tried to make it canon...sorta**

 **We introduce some characters yeyy!**

 **I can tell you this is already been real fun for me to write!**

1st POV

I woke up to a beautiful sunrise. It was one of the most peaceful sleeps I had gotten in a long time, and it was doing me some good. I had finally gotten used to the old mattress after three sleeps in it, and had been using the portal place as a sort of private study. I got up earlier too on my own accord, mostly because I had to work in the Mystery Shack, but today was a Sunday, so the shack closed at 3:00!

I had no clue what I was going to do with all of that extra time on my hands: Dipper was to be writing probably, and Mabel would be glueing boy-band stickers to Waddles, her pet pig. I got on my leather jacket, and went to start my shift at the shop.

It was a slow day, and customers were few. Neither Mabel, Dipper, nor I could make it fun. I was slowly growing tired of Gravity Falls instead of getting used to it. For most of the day, all I could do was watch the clock slowly tick by, its awful noise drilling into my head. I realized that it was three, then nearly sprinted to change the sign outside to closed again.

There was only one option now; exploring, I had heard many things about the mysterious occurrences in Gravity Falls, but believed them all to be tall tales until now. What had changed my mind was a number of things; Dipper being uncomfortable about me calling him Pine Tree, the burned remains of a number three with a six-fingered hand, and of course, the portal, which I didn't think was real until all of the obvious clues in the secret room pointing to it.

I walked out of the door, bell ringing signaling that I was leaving. "Hey, where are you going?" asked Mabel.

"Just...going to explore this town a little more! I think it's growing on me," I said halfheartedly, a fake smile plastered on my face. I strode out the door and began my search for something interesting.

The deeper into town I went, the more 'normal' everything was. There was a lady with one droopy eyelid sweeping the porch of a restaurant, but in the same place over and over again. The only person that didn't look to be frozen in time was a red-headed girl wearing flannel. She looked like she might provide some answers to this madness.

"Hey, do you know what's been happening over town...say, a few summers ago?" in the summer was the most obvious time, because that was the only other time Dipper and Mabel had been here, and it seemed like they had more than a few memories built upon this old town.

"Never mind all that, but if you really want to know, you either go to McGucket, or, well, nothing, I guess," she said, nervously laughing.

I slowly nodded and backed away, and she discreetly pointed in what I hoped was the direction of McGucket's house. I started into the forest, keeping at a steady pace, until I realized that I was hopelessly lost in there. It seemed to all fade into grayscale and like I was going nowhere and everywhere at once.

 _It's a deal!_ A voice rang through the trees, and the world was suddenly back to normal again. Ahead was something that I had not noticed before, a little statue staring out into the distance with a cartoonish spindly limb stretched out. A stone triangle with an eye; surely not the weirdest thing in town, but alright!

I had the feeling that I was supposed to do something, but I didn't know what. I kept on walking ahead, but within a few minutes, I found myself still, sitting in front of the statue. I was going in circles, more lost than an abandoned puppy.

I thought back to the voice. It had said something about a deal, and deals were usually accompanied with a handshake. The figure did indeed look like it desperately wanted to shake my hand. I didn't know why I did it, I knew nothing would happen, but there I was, shaking the creature's hand. Its arm was stiff, and it made for an awkward handshake, yet under my breath, almost as a ritual, I whispered, "It's a deal."

I could feel the ripple effect, or a slight tremor, maybe, and the world was back to grayscale. There was no more statue, instead, it had been reanimated, a glowing yellow triangle in front of me.

"Haha! Thanks...Jacket? How about Sequin?" It miraculously spoke without having any visible mouths.

"My name's Cherie," I said dumbfoundedly.

"Okay kid, we'll work on that. The name's Bill! Pleasure to meet your acquaintance! How about some spinal fluid?" It said, a little too excited. Viscous fluid appeared magically, and I shuddered, hoping that it wasn't really someone's spinal fluid.

"Dude, you have a screw or two loose!" I said.

"Feels good to be ba-, wait, that's it?" the triangle exclaimed.

"What's it? Trust me, I've seen some pretty weird stuff around here," I replied boastfully.

"What do you mean what's it? I'm a floating triangle that took a vital liquid from someone's body and gave it to you, yet you merely reply with, 'Dude, you have a screw loose'?! You should be cowering in fear!" On the last part of the sentence, Bill's voice deepened and he turned red, but only for a second. He snapped his fingers and the spinal fluid stuff disappeared, hopefully back into the body of whoever it had come from.

I just shrugged in response to his last words, because why would I be afraid of a ripoff illuminati guy in a bowtie and tophat? "Well, continuing," he shot me an annoyed glance, "it feels so good to be back! Hey kid, we got off on the wrong foot there. You made a deal with me, remember?" Magically, a little flashback screen appeared of me shaking the statue's hand in sealing whatever the deal was.

"So? What do you want? Fame, money, power, stickers?" he asked oddly.

"I want…" I thought about it. I didn't know really, but soon came up with something. "I want to know the secrets of this town!" I said, but my confident tone betrayed the nervous look in my eyes.

"OK then! Let's make it official. In return, you're going to have to do a favor for me sometime," he replied.

"Wait, that's unfair! I freed you, and you said that you would give me something, but now you're asking for something in return," I discovered.

"Well, here's the thing, if it is to be a fair deal, then I need a little more than 'being freed' in return. You fleshbags have no clue about the extent of the secrets in this town!" There were really that many secrets in Gravity Falls? How did the worth of those secrets exceed fame, or money and power? This was probably Bill's plan. Now that he's got me intrigued about the secrets and such, he'll get anything he wants, but it's not like I had anything to lose by telling him about the Pines.

If the statue was as mossy as it looked, then this creature surely wouldn't have seen or known Dipper and Mabel, and they couldn't have gained those not so fond memories from _him_

3rd POV

Cherie, after doing some figuring out and deciding in her head, Bill all the while reading her thoughts without her consent, finally chose to accept the weird triangle's deal.

"Hehe, good choice kid," said Cipher, a sort of happy expression crossing his facial area, despite the fact he didn't have a mouth and lacked two eyes. Blue flames erupted from his hand, and though she was afraid, Cherie shook it.

It surprisingly didn't hurt like she had expected it to, just felt extremely weird against her skin, like it wasn't quite right. She shrugged off the feeling, because everything in this town wasn't quite right, and it's not like that was going to change without Bill, for he was to be the one to tell her the mysteries of the Falls.

"Well, see ya' kid!" he shouted, the words echoing through space and time itself.

"Wait!" screamed Cherie, but the demon was already gone.

Cherie woke up in a bunch of bushes, thorns tangled in her hair. There was a small trail of drool inching its way down the side of her face. Cherie sat up, rigid, and wiped it on her jacket's sleeve. She shuddered about what had happened, then realized that she still had not come any closer to discovering what the weirdness in Gravity Falls was all about.

Cherie looked ahead, and saw that through the woods was a clearing leading to an old mansion. She hoped that it was McGucket's house, but couldn't be sure, because it looked awfully neglected and worn from misuse. The gates were open, and Cherie gingerly took steps inside.

"Hello?" she called out into the huge place. It reverbated off of the walls, but so far there was no reply.

"Hmm? Whaddya want frum me? I thawt I installerated them fancy security sistems! If you're here to dec'rate my lawns with dose hip spray pain' then scram!" Though his speech was slurred, Cherie could tell that beneath the veneer was someone with some real brains.

"I was told that you could say what happened some years ago: the never mind deal?" Cherie asked, still unsure of two things; whether or not McGucket could help, and where he even was in the capacious house. Every story must begin and end with a sort of question in mind.

 **(place change)**

Dipper and Mabel felt something had happened, something they couldn't quite put their fingers on. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but a familiar one at that. They had both sensed it, and duly looked at each other strangely as if meeting an old friend at the same time. Dipper couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched everywhere he went now, and that his mind somehow wasn't safe anymore.

Mabel just ignored the feeling, until she got a slight inkling of what it meant. "That feeling like I forgot something, or maybe something bad happened," she paused for a moment, then realized what it was, "Oh no, my mini muffins are burning!" She quickly ran to the fire extinguisher, opened the oven and sprayed the foam wildly, coating everything in the house with weird carbon-chemicals. "Well, that's a relief," she said, returning the extinguisher to its rightful place, even though the glass had been smashed to use it an infinite number of times through the years.

Even though the supposed 'situation' had been solved, there still was one puzzle piece in the equation that wasn't fitting with the rest.

 _ **That's**_ **a shocker! not... I followed the classic plot of someone freeing Bill...cri**

 **Please, i'm hoping that this is an original enough fanfic**

 **wow, that was ironic, and a redundancy! original fanfic, original fanfic...**

 **well, see you in your nightmares!**


	3. Missing Piece

**Hiya! Welcome to chapter three!**

 **Soon, there will be a reason for the teen rating**

 **And this one's gonna lead into it**

 **NONE IS MINE! *throws all credit in the general direction of Disney* except Cherie *slowly grabs a piece of credit and protects with life***

 **Reviews; Nina Everblade; I am literally stuck in between (some sites say one, some the other) the two worst zodiacs...**

Cherie found herself back in the grayscale place, all just a seething mass of dark and white colors. The triangle-thing-person was also there, probably to uphold his end of the bargain. "So, it begins. Tell me the secrets, some, all, I don't care!" said Cherie bluntly, thinking that the deal was all for nothing.

"Where do we start? For one, there's someone in town who isn't who they say they are," Bill told Cherie vaguely.

"What? That isn't supernatural or anything, that's just saying that any one of the townspeople is hiding their identity, most likely renowned identity theft, Stan Pines!" Cherie was skeptical; the town was small, and the chance that there was actually anything remotely interesting besides the weird dispositions of Gravity Falls residents was slim.

"I wouldn't be so sure...how about Phoenix? Anyways, the supernatural is all there is in Gravity Falls, but I would watch out; things are about to change for all of you very soon," he mentioned dubiously.

"Phoenix is fine, idiot. Seriously, why do you pretend to be so scary and vague and suspense building? Just call me by my real name! Also, why Phoenix?" Cherie stood up from her sitting position on the mattress to confront Cipher.

"First of all," said the triangle, "I don't like your tone!" Cherie shrank back from the voice, then noticed a pain through her arms. Flames were charring her flesh, turning it black and pink. The smell of burning hair singed the inside of her nostrils. A scream clawed its way up Cherie's throat, but when it escaped through her parted lips, no sound came out. Terror was the only expression written on her pained face.

"Sheesh, overreact much? Secondly, I called you Phoenix because their tiny and weak, yet still pack a punch. Thirdly, I wasn't being vague, but rather helpful! If you find the missing puzzle piece, the thing that doesn't belong, then everything else will fall into place!"

The flames engulfing the blackened remains of Cherie ceased, and her skin color slowly lightened and healed until she was back to normal. Her breathing was as if shards of glass were stuck in her throat. Tears were running down her face, but she was no longer in pain.

"Well, thanks, I guess. That's going to take some getting used to," Cherie disclosed, rubbing her arm to make sure it was still there.

Bill squinted at her and muttered something under his breath, probably some thoughts about how to really get his 'Phoenix's' mind to start cracking. She was really holding up to her nickname. The room faded to colors, and Cipher disappeared in the blink of an eye.

1st POV

By the time I had woken from the dream, it was already sunrise. I was still shaken by what had happened, but I wouldn't let the insane triangle see the extent of his damage. _The piece that doesn't belong_. I was going to have to consult Dipper and Mabel about it, even if they wouldn't give the info willingly.

They were just about to get ready to open the shack, and I realized that I was the last one of us up. I wore my trademark leather jacket downstairs, but Soos-or that's what I was told his name was-and the redhead from earlier who told me McGucket had the answers.

It turned out that he was of little to no help, and said that why the act was passed was because of an event known as Weirdmageddon, which sounded like a load of crap to me. Who believes in weirdness bubbles and people turning to chairs.

"Hey, redhead!" I shouted. She gave me an odd look, like 'who, me?'. "You never told me that it was all a prank, and that McGucket was bonkers! What even is Weirdmageddon?" I accused her. Mabel, Dipper, Soos, and the redhead all turned towards me sharing a look that knew all too much and told all too little.

"Hehe, he must have been joking or something," said a nervous Dipper. I could tell he was lying: he always sweat when he lied, and right now, Dipper was a sprinkler.

I left it at that, and instead said, "OK then, could you guys come with me? I want to be introduced to the town, and right now, I don't have a guide." I was lying too, and they knew it as well.

This ran deeper, but we were all in the same boat playing the same game, and nobody was willing to call BS on the cards.

"Wendy and Soos got this! You'll cover for us right?" Mabel said with a wink. So that was the redhead's name; Wendy. Like the fast food chain's very own red-headed country bumpkin, except Wendy was more 'cool'.

"Sure thing dudes," said Soos, the assistant manager. He had gladly given up the stressful position as Shack owner when Stan came back, but he was still a step up from before, but then again, all the things I knew about this town were from word of mouth.

Before we were able to leave the Shack, the above lights flickered on and off, then finally stayed off. Without the power on, the summer heat slowly crept into the building, making it sweltering inside and outside. Groaning and without hesitation, Soos and Wendy promptly got back to work, using the sun as their light source.

The three of us, Dipper, Mabel, and I, went outside. It would be somewhat easier with the power out to 'find the thing that doesn't belong', because since there was no more air conditioning, people would probably be outside.

"Who should we talk to first?" asked Mabel excitedly. Without allowing any time for someone to answer, she grabbed our arms and ran to town. "Cherie gets to meet everyone!" screeched Mabel, gaining a few stares from the passing folks.

The rest went by in a blur; too many people had too similar names and personalities to remember, but I was able to remember a few. There was Tad Strange, the most normal of the town's inhabitants, Lazy Susan, who also was close to the opposite of her name, Gideon, pretend town sweetheart, but now he was older and out of prison, and though he still held a grudge, he had somehow managed to work his way back up to likeable by everyone except for the Pines.

I wouldn't trust him with the blanket his mother gave him, much less a 'Tent of Telepathy' which was somehow still in business.

There were others too; a poor snob named Pacifica, police officers Blubs and Durland, and the mayor, Tyler Cutebiker. All of the names in town were all too coincidental, but there still wasn't anything off. After meeting all of the townsfolk and becoming tired of their similarities and blandness, we returned to the Shack, me defeated, Dipper exhausted, and Mabel ecstatic.

When we got inside, the floorboards of the kitchen were drenched with a sticky colorful liquid. It was still dripping from the fridge in a rainbow of assorted syrup flavors. I opened the icebox and saw melted popsicle mingling with ice that was turning to water. Apparently, the power was still not back on.

I groaned, and waited for the perpetual day to end. I heard the bell ringing in the shop signaling that Wendy and Soos had gone home for the day. It was a relief to be able to finally go to bed, even if it was early for tonight. The gray place was back again, and I was starting to get annoyed ending up here every night, especially since this placed caused unspeakable emotions to burn through my veins.

Cipher appeared almost immediately, and my distaste furthered. "There was nothing that doesn't belong Cipher! You lied to me!" I yelled, but then bit my tongue from saying curses that would provoke the triangle further.

"Well, when I told you that, it hadn't happened yet! Of course, it's come to be by now, but I just wanted to see you suffer even further with your fruitless searches!" The demonic figure's laugh had a slight echo, but not nearly as much as when I had 'set him free'.

My face grew red hot with anger as I faced Bill. I wanted to lash out in such a way that he would rue the day he crossed me, but I held back from strangling the place where he was floating. "Woah, you have a dirty mind!" said Bill, with an expression on his face that I interpreted as a sort of sick smirk.

"Wha-," I said dumbfoundedly. "How did you…?" Apparently, apart from being able to deprive me of sleep with his visits, Bill also knew how to read minds. Great.

"Relax Phoenix, only when I'm in the Mindscape, which by the way, is what you've been calling the Grayscale." I let out a breath of short-lived alleviation when I realized that he could still read my mind. "Also, the missing piece is running out of time for you to find. It won't be long before it realizes the journals are destroyed though," said Bill.

Journals? It? This was sounding more and more like fantasy, and if Bill was telling the truth, then someone in town wasn't human. All of this, and things were still shrouded in a thick fog. This was one of those riddles again that I was going to have to solve: what can blend in like a human, or be unnoticed, but isn't one? What are the journals, and why does our little mystery friend want them so badly?

I was ejected from my sleep cycle, and went down to the portal room, hoping that nobody had heard my descent down the stairs. I noticed something that I hadn't before. There was a little copier machine, and next to it, marked up papers about how to start up the portal. These blueprints were amazingly complex and detailed!

There were also others that had been copied. I didn't know where they had been copied from, but one of the pages had a little drawing of Cipher himself. According to its information, I wasn't supposed to summon 'At all costs'. Well, technically, I wasn't summoning. _Hehe, yup, no summoning. Wonder what the sadistic being did to deserve a page like this in here…_

The pages of the journal weren't in order, as if the job were rushed and whoever did it didn't have enough time to copy the entire manuscript, or maybe they only cared about the important pages. I took the pages, shoved them under my shirt, and studied how to jump-start that portal.

 **Comment what you think the 'thing that doesn't belong' is...:)**

 **Enjoy the last day of Christmas break, unless you're one of the lucky ones getting the entire week off cri...**


	4. Gideon

**Sorry in advance for what happens here, trying not to spoil by saying this :)**

 **WOOWOOWOOWO! We have officially reached 100+ views (only around 50 visits but WHO CARES?!)**

 **Reviews: Nina Everblade-Uh oh uh oh sorry for this chapter**

 **Characters. Not. Mine.**

3rd person

Cherie had a plan in mind: she was going to solve the little riddle and nobody, not even Grunkle Stan, could stop her.

She looked through the pages again, trying to find any clues, but coming up empty after realizing that they were just unintelligible sciency stuff. After hiding the printed pages back in her and her cousin's room, she raced down the stairs anxiously.

Cherie had hidden them under the cover of her mattress, so the only thing that would tip people off about what was there would be a slight bulge otherwise mistaken as one of the cover's various wrinkles.

Nobody was in the gift shop, ergo she had succeeded in being somewhat stealthy when it came to sneaking up and down the stairs. The sun hadn't started to rise yet, so Cherie used that to her advantage, creeping out before anyone would notice she was gone.

Freedom, answers, and adventure was waiting behind the screen door. There were a couple of bugs stuck in the grains, seeming to cry out in help. The door swung open as Cherie rushed through it. She had forgotten about the bell on the front door, and when it rang without warning, she sprinted off towards town so as to prevent being followed if she had woken anyone up.

She didn't have any clues whatsoever, except for the fact that Mabel had introduced her to everyone in town. Then she could pick off the suspects one by one, like in a detective movie. Lights were still on in a few of the buildings, so sometime during the night, Gravity Falls had regained power.

Cherie started with Lazy Susan, who had still confirmed that she was in her restaurant all day, sweeping. The real test was asking her about Weirdmageddon, because so far, the only thing anyone ever told Cherie was 'never mind all that'. The answer held true as well.

Defeated, she went to the next resident, then the next. Cherie had gotten through nearly half the town's residents, but nothing seemed to be out of place. Besides the nasty-dispositioned townsfolk like Gideon, there was nobody left to talk to except McGucket, who lived through the forest she could never navigate past.

On the edge of the forest, Cherie stood, patrolling almost, looking for the spot she had entered before. Still no closer to finding the crazy old man, she was about to give up, then realized something. There was an odd scent in the air, like rotting meat. It was faint, but there all the same.

Old-fashioned tracking wouldn't be pretty for her; she had no experience whatsoever with this ancient art of actually trying. As she walked up and down the forest's edge once more, the smell grew weaker. Cherie realized that the weird odor was coming from inside the woods rather than its perimeter.

Her only option was to go through the woods to find it, but now they didn't look so friendly and lush. She was afraid, not of the dark, but of what lie in it. Cherie created an option previously not on the numbered list by going back to the Shack for a flashlight.

As she slowly crept through the door, muffling the bell with her hand, the light flicked on above her.

"Well, well, well," murmured Dipper, who had been staking out since he heard Cherie leave. "Sorry, just wanted to add drama. Why were you out at this time?" he inquired.

"I was," she paused, debating about whether she should tell the truth or not, "trying to find the missing piece. Someone may or may not have tipped me off that something about this darn town was...weird," she said.

It was a partial truth, someone had tipped me off, but it was also a something, and someone wasn't human, so it wasn't weird, just impossible.

"Who told you? Was it the gnomes? I knew they wouldn't leave us alone after, wait, how much do you actually know?"

1st POV

I knew it! He spilled it, that must be the answer then. Gnomes weren't people, so Dipper had given me the missing piece. I asked him a question I hoped he would answer, "Why do they want the journals?" I was bluffing about my knowledge with the journals, hoping that he would give up more information.

"How did you know about the journals?! Last time I checked, they didn't want anything bu-wait, who told you this information?" Dipper was suddenly much more careful with letting out his secrets. He did not speak, and probably would not, until I answered.

"Oh, y'know, if you can have secrets, then so can I. I have my ways." I left the conversation like that.

Dipper was stunned with how much I knew, and left me to get the flashlight before saying, "I'm coming with. Whatever mess you've gotten yourself into, you're going to need me to solve this."

I didn't argue, and before I knew it, I had left the Shack, Dipper trailing on my heels. I went to how him where I first discovered the scent. It was slightly stronger even though it had only been about thirty minutes.

"What am I supposed to be seeing?" he asked, confused.

"Do you smell that? Like someone left out ham, or something else," I replied.

"Well, that's semi-normal. Why do you think this is of any importance?" I turned on the flashlight, not sure what I would be seeing. Ahead were two sets of footprints, one that looked like from suede shoes, the other from hiking boots.

Dipper's face turned to the color of plastic. "It's okay, I bet tons of people have those boots…" He said that not to me, but whispered it to himself as reassurance. I took his hand, and we began into the dark, cold forest.

The flashlight only let us see a few feet ahead, but the disturbing thing was that the two sets of prints abruptly turned to one set. The remaining set slowly morphed to what the other one was.

I could hear the buzzing of flies up ahead, the only sign that we were close to what had happened. Dipper was trembling as I shone the flashlight ahead to where the flies were.

I screamed, clenching on to Dipper's hand, his mouth screaming as well. We ran as far away from that place as possible, our footsteps the only sound now, for they were all I could possibly take in after that horrific scene.

I shut the Shack door, ran up to my room, and to my surprise, I started to cry. I wasn't the kind of person to display emotion, but tonight deserved it. The sight of it, even the mere thought of what had happened was traumatizing.

It was a carcass, half devoured by the looks of it, flesh peeling off in some places. Its mouth was gaping as if trying to call help perpetually. The corpse was fresh enough, the beginning of maggots starting to wriggle through its skin.

The worst part was not the scene itself, but two things. One; the victim was a child. Two; I knew him, for he was the town's very own Gideon Gleeful.

I couldn't fall back asleep after that, but eventually, my mind succumbed to the darkness and I was back in the Grayscale. Despite its actual name, I insisted to calling it that still.

"Bill, what did you do? Why is Gideon dead!" Nobody responded save for the echoes of my own voice. I was completely alone in this one, and that's how it was going to stay until the puzzle was solved.

Somebody had to have murdered him, and that somebody was the missing piece, unless the answer was Gideon all along, which was doubtful.

In the Grayscale, time passed faster than normal sleep periods, and within a minute or two of sitting in the Grayscale, I woke up sweating and gasping at the foot of my bed. Dipper had again heard me wake up, but I realized that he was already awake and just hadn't been able to fall back asleep after Gideon.

"Should we tell Mabel?" I asked him.

"I think she deserves to know, after all, she's seen as much as I have." Dipper was careful not to reveal any more information after earlier. I nodded in agreement, and we waited for the sun to rise.

 **Whew! Not sure how much I'm going to be hated for killing off a character, but at least it's over with (?)!**

 **If you want a spoiler then here**

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	5. Shooting Star

**HIIIIIII!**

 **I'm back baby, and with 200 views!?**

 **(less than 100 visits XD)**

 **I got everyone's personalities wrong yay #messup please tell me what to fix so I can FIX IT WOO!**

 **FEEL THE HYPE IT'S CONTAIGIOUS**

 **Reviewz-**

 **Nina EverBlade: at least I apologized for it ;)**

3rd person

Mabel woke up, Dipper and Cherie both looking at her like they had been waiting their entire lives for this. "Do you want to tell her?" asked Cherie.

"No, you should! I-I can't do that to Mabel," answered Dipper.

"Tell me what?" queried Mabel. Dipper elbowed Cherie in the side, obviously expecting that she would be the one to deliver whatever news they were so anxious to spill.

"Ummm, Gideon's dead," said Cherie quite bluntly.

"Yes! Haha, finally! I mean, I'm so sorry for your loss, it must have been hard." Mabel was having mixed feelings, some being happy that the creep had died along with his dreams to instate Mabel as his 'queen', and other feelings that were pitying the death, no matter how much he had deserved it.

"We need to find the culprit," Dipper paused, "so I guess this means the mystery twins are back in business." From the way he phrased it, one might have got the impression that they had done this before.

"'Back in business?' What aren't you telling me," accused Cherie. They had been caught red handed, not realizing that someone as laid-back and uncaring as Cherie could have possible been listening so intently as to catch a small error such as that.

"Well, we sort of did this kind of stuff about four years ago as well," said Dipper, his face looking ashen and traumatized.

"Dipper, you do realize that we aren't the mystery twins anymore, right? Now that Cherie, erm, 'knows', we're the mystery group! Or trio? Which sounds better?" exclaimed Mabel.

"No, Mabel, just no. Cherie can't possibly be a part of this; she doesn't even know about the gnomes and now we want to solve mysteries with her? What if this murder had to do with...him?" Whoever 'him' was, Cherie felt like she didn't want to know at all. She was about to protest about her actual knowledges regarding the falls, but then was sucked into the endless void of sleep.

"I see you're in need of some help," Bill said condescendingly as if he knew she would be needing him all along. "I have the right piece of leverage that will aid you in your journey! You tell it to the Pines, they'll let you into their little mystery trio."

"What games are you playing at? Are you saying that Dipper and Mabel will allow me to join them if I told them a single sentence? Is that even possible? And why do they have a page of you that says, 'Do not summon at all costs?'" Cherie was nearly bursting at the seams with questions, none with an actual answer.

"Relax Phoenix, all in good time. I'm not playing any games really besides y'know, corrupting your soul and being so that you join me in eventual world domination! Also, yes, they will let you. Remember something about Dipper being uncomfortable with you calling him Pine Tree? Do it again, say a little birdy told you. By the way, Mabel's Shooting Star. Also, for the last question, if you haven't figured it out by now, you never will!" Bill's psychotic laughter faded into the distance and Cherie woke from the Grayscale.

1st POV

I opened my lids to Mabel slapping my cheeks repeatedly. I remembered Ciphers words then too, how he was just using me, and I vowed to myself silently to never cave in to his plan, even if it was just a little favor he wanted from me.

 _Pine Tree and Shooting Star_ , I repeated in my head. I wondered how mad Dipper would get, and why the names were so upsetting. "Thank goodness she's awake, " said Dipper, "Because this is why we can't have her with us! See, she passed out because of all the weirdness that had been happening, and we can't expose her to any more of that or she'll snap!" His words packed a punch, and they stung to my soul.

I wasn't nearly as fragile as he thought, what, with surviving being burned alive. I was suddenly engulfed in fury directed at the both of them. In the midst of their arguing, I snapped, and yelled, "Well Pine Tree I've got news for you! I know a lot more than I've been letting on, isn't that right Shooting Star?! I don't know what you've been hiding, but I know lots of things, LOTS OF THINGS!" My raged had ceased for now, but Dipper and Mabel looked as if they had just been befallen with a triple stroke mixed in with a heart attack and some meningitis.

"I-I-I-I..." Dipper was at a complete loss of words, and Mabel had disappeared under her sweater.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, but I really think I deserve to be a part of this with you guys. I understand if you don't want me," I said, then reached out my arm towards Dipper, for Mabel seemed unwilling to register my presence. He slapped it away with a force of anger that seemed much to mature for his current age.

"Get OUT of her you hear me?" He yelled to nobody, yet also me at the same time. "OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT! NOT AGAIN!" He screamed.

"Dipper, it's me, Cherie! I was bluffing I swear, someone told me that it would irritate you, but I didn't expect this! Please Dipper, trust me!" He seemed more calm now, and Mabel, having returned from sweater town, began to comfort him.

"He's gone, he's dead," she said softly.

Under his breath, Dipper whispered, "Trust no one." Those words seemed oddly familiar, like I had seen them in a movie, or perhaps read them in a book somewhere.

"I d-didn't mean it OK? I'm sorry, I just, I…" I couldn't finish a sentence after what had happened. Dipper had acted possessed, and Mabel seemed to know the exact reason behind the strange occurrence. They both were clamer now, and though it was unsaid during the entire episode, I knew that I had successfully became one of the mystery trio's official members.

"Tomorrow, 8:00 sharp. We're solving this thing, and oh, by the way, whoever thought that it was a good idea to call us those names, will you give them a good ole fashioned fistfight for me please?" asked Mabel sternly. Even though I knew she couldn't possibly be that childish all the time, I had no clue that beneath the surface she had more emotions than immaturity, like being able to command respect.

I nodded solemnly, then waited for the horrendous day to end, though it was just beginning to be dawn. I remembered something then, where those words were from. They were written on one of the pieces of paper in the portal room. Could Dipper have possible written them? Were they the remains and scraps of the journals? Again though, that couldn't have been possible because they were printed copies, and I could see where the copier had scanned ink stains, wrinkles, and must-spots riddled throughout the papers.

I didn't know why there were so many ink splatters though when it was a very neat printer, even if it did only print in black-and-white, but if the splats had come from the page itself, then why were they just a little lighter shade of black than the rest of the ink used to write on them? Too many questions again, and there was only one 'person' that wouldn't answer them in lies and half-truths. I willed myself asleep, and was back in the Grayscale.

3rd POV

"Have you noticed that Cherie is continually blacking out?" asked Dipper.

"Maybe she just needs more sleep, I mean, I would too after moving to hang out with your cousin's great uncles, and she doesn't even know much about Ford other than he's still off exploring the world, and that isn't even true! I mean, why couldn't we tell her that he has been basically living in a lab he made out of a spacecraft under the town?! Oh, maybe because it's strange, just like everything else, including her." said Mabel, partially getting carried off by her own thoughts, and partially trying to weakly defend Cherie's disappearances.

"Don't you think we should at least check on the statue to make sure it's still there? I'm kinda paranoid if you haven't noticed," he confided. He then proceeded to walk out of the shack and into the woods, Mabel trailing him by a few feet after realizing that he was serious. The stench was even worse than yesterday, but Dipper wasn't looking for Gideon's body.

"It stinks in here!" Mabel blurted.

"Yeah, remember when we told you Gideon was dead?" asked Dipper reluctantly.

"Oh," she whispered, her voice sounding much more sympathetic to her once-enemy. After a while of searching and coming up blank, they decided to turn back around, Dipper now extremely nervous.

"Y'know, it only shows up sometimes, and in different spots as well," Mabel trailed off. The twins soon realized that they were both lost in the forest's lush trees and foliage. Then it appeared before them, the statue.

It had both hands behind its back and now had an expression of knowing hate, a little smirk. Dipper and Mabel were too busy being relieved of its presence that they didn't even realize that the entire forest was made of grays, and the statue had changed from its normal expression, wishing for someone to make one last deal.

 **TEE HEE HEE!**

 **Good luck with Dipstick and Mabes ever trusting Cherie again Lol**

 **Also, the clue in the previous chapter is still venturing into spoiler zone for the next next chapterz and stuff BUT YOU'LL NEVER GET MY EXPERT CODE HAHHAHAHA**


	6. Questions

**WHOOP!**

 **I'm back**

 **I couldn't post because of some glitch but it's apparently gone so here we are!**

 **This one's kinda short**

 **But I hope y'all enjoy it anyways :3**

I didn't really know anything about the town besides what Bill had told me, and I was determined to pressure him to tell me more. "Cipher, I've got only got one question for you this time, but it's a big one! I want to know why…" I was still unsure if what to ask. Should I ask why the twins were so upset? Should I ask how he _knew_ they would be upset?

"Well, Phoenix, they do know me," _right, mind reading abilities_ , "I'm an old friend to them, if you will. How? I'm not yet willing to disclose that right now." Something crossed his face, was it possibly something such as shame? That was answer enough for me though, the fact that an interdimensional being knew my cousins, and knew me as well. "I'll tell you all in good time," he whispered with more of that small bit of wist creeping in. I had no idea that he had feelings besides rage, fury, hate, disgust, and a completely controlling disposition!

Maybe this was why summoning was so...advised against. I still wasn't really sure how to 'summon', what, would I be needing a pentagram, some chants, and a candle? "Yes indeed," said Bill. _Creepy mind reading demon_ , yup, I was going to make sure not to think of anything except for rainbows and butterflies.

So, if what he said was true though, then instead of waking up in need of Mabel juice, I would just need to summon...then that would be much easier, right? Although, I had no idea what summoning entailed, whether it meant bringing him into this world, or my mind instead. Either way, it didn't exactly seem like too good of an idea, though it did have its perks.

"Oh, by the way Phoenix, I'm going to have to use that favor card for you," He said, and now Bill's face was a mystery of hidden emotion. He very well had known what the favor was going to be at the start of the deal, at least, if he were as all knowing as I thought then that was to be the case. "I need you to rebuild Stanford's, er, Stanley's portal for me. I'll help you get the materials, but you have to activate it for me." OMIGOSH! I was actually being asked to rebuild Stanley's portal!

This was not a favor or a task, but a marvelous gift instead! I couldn't wait to get started, and learn about the secrets, and oh! I was never going to regret coming to Gravity Falls, even though I was technically forced to come here.

"Bill freakin' Cipher that isn't a burden or even a favor, that's a gift! As long as you provide the materials and instructions, then I'll do it without wasting your precious 'favor'. So, do we have a deal?" I smirked as I repeated his previous gesture of an extended hand. He seemed incredulous at the thought of, well, I didn't actually know why he was so surprised.

"Yo-you're sure about this? You do realize that-"

"Yup," I cut him off before he could finish the sentence.

I knew full well what he was capable of using that little favor for, but I also knew that I would have made another deal just to start up Stan's portal. Maybe we wouldn't have to meet through the Mindscape then. At that point I realized then two things; I just called this place the Mindscape instead of the Grayscale. That led to the second, much scarier realization; Bill was rubbing off on me like an eraser on paper.

He wore an expression that I interpreted as a sort of smile, and I could tell that though he had surely read my thoughts, Bill wasn't commenting on them or responding to any of my rhetorical questions like he usually did. Maybe I was rubbing off on him as well. He inhaled and said, "Well, great. You get started today, because if I calculate the human time correctly, you still have some time before the day ends and you, Shooting Star, and Pine Tree are leaving for the missing piece."

"Wait, one of the first times we met you predicted the future. Can you do it again? Will we find the culprit?" I asked, interested in Cipher's response.

"Can't say Phoenix, because I can only predict the little things, and yeah, like you said, they are only vague inklings. This does mean, however, that whatever the missing piece actually is wants the journals, and isn't a small problem at all. I only saw death in the future if you hadn't have found it." Puzzling indeed that what I had thought as an unstoppable force of - what, evil? - didn't even know what was going to happen later, and if it wasn't small as he said, then what sort of monster were we dealing with here? Only vague predictions...well, that would be fairly useful in a fight if it ever came to one.

"Bill, what kind of thing are we dealing with? Will summoning you via pentagram and some candles help?" I nearly snickered at the classical plot of, y'know, summoning, but by the time I had thought then asked that question, I was alone in my own Mindscape once more.

I woke up at will this time, having nobody forcefully shake me again. Mabel and Dipper were nowhere to be seen. I crept out of the attic and down the Shack stairs, and at that time I realized that it was evening, and that I was still bone-tired from whatever I had been doing, or rather, not doing, like we having a good night's sleep for once. I wondered if Dipper and Mabel had noticed if I had been gone, but I doubted that if they did they would be understanding.

They weren't running the Shack either, which worried me. It was supposed to be open at this time, but not even Wendy and Soos had been running it. I took it upon myself to enter the 'secret' elevator and begin work on Stan's portal, though I didn't think he would have the sort of brains to build a machine such as that. Instead of pressing the button to go to the portal room, I did what Mabel had first suggested.

The room with the you-know-what's, even though I still didn't know what a you-know-what was. The elevator stopped at the floor I had input, but the room I had ended up in was completely gutted. There wasn't a single thing there, although several imprints on the dusty shelves suggested that someone had been here recently, but not too recently. Could it have been the fabled Stanford Pines? I had no idea what he had been doing before the events of three summers ago, but I knew that by the way my cousins spoke about him that he wasn't a con man, meaning that he didn't work in the gift shop.

I went back into the elevator and pushed the button for the portal place. Since I had read over the instructions a few times without anyone noticing the misplaced sheets, i supposed that this was going to be easy. There was only one thing though; I was going to need a lot of toxic waste to get the machine started again.

 _ **Alright then, Grunkle Stan's tools are in the box below the printer**_ _,_ said a voice inside my head.

 _Bill! What are you doing in here?_ I 'shouted' back.

 _ **You agreed to let me help with the materials and instructions. Do I need to replay the previous deal? Sorry Phoenix, I'm running out of time, the Shack's barrier, I-I gotta go.**_

 _Wait, what? There's a barrier around the Shack?_ That didn't make any sense. Although, when we first arrived at the Shack I did see a faint line of rainbow colors that encircled the shack, but last time I checked rainbow paint didn't keep out interdimensional demons.

At least I knew where Stan's tool box was though. There were tons of things inside of it that I had no idea how to use or what to do with, so I started with a wrench. The bolts on the sides of the portal were unscrewed and strewn around the floor purposefully, as with much of the other things that were needed to repair the place. It was a fixer-upper, but now, thanks to my deal, it was officially _my_ fixer-upper. I set to work placing the metallic frame back together.

 **Yes, I know**

 **I'm, once again, sorry**

 **But you should have inferred from my profile page**

 **'cuz it said I like ships that everyone hates**

 **#BillxOC 4 life!**

 **ALSO! THE CLUE FROM A WHILE AGO IS STILL VALID**

 **unless you just skipped to the last chapter available like I do -*o-***


	7. Back Again

**Hi! Sorry for the late update (again) -**

 **I hope to be more frequent with these, but just wondering**

 **Should I continue this series? Not sure if anyone likes it...hmmm**

 **Anyways, today, we reveal the missing piece!**

 **Have fun with this one :)**

3rd person

Mabel and Dipper had gone out to find some early clues, but nothing turned up, so they decided to wait it out for Cherie's sake. Dipper was still suspicious of Cherie's source, but it could have been any one of the people who had been at their futile first attempt to stop Bill. That, sadly, included Robbie and Gideon, though one of the two was dead.

Dipper exhaled when he reached the Shack, and went straight to bed. He didn't really care that Cherie wasn't there; she probably needed some alone time after he exploded at her. Though, even here he couldn't escape the impending dread that began to cover the town.

Dipper fell asleep, but before falling into a deep sleep, he had one of those strange nightmares that he used to get before therapy. The only difference with this one though was that it was in various shades of gray, and he didn't dream in gray. "Hiya Pinetree! Did you miss me? Admit it, you missed me!" rang a voice.

 _Can't be possible, just a figment of my imagina-_ "Hehe, you really haven't figured it out yet have you!" _Oh God, this was real._ It couldn't be him! He was gone, defeated, dead, buried, whatever synonym you pleased! Bill appeared, twirling his cane wildly, looking amused at Dipper's surprise.

"How are you back? We defeated you, remember?" This conversation was oddly similar to one that had happened long ago, a very long time ago. Three summers to be exact, when Mabel's obsession with puppets outweighed her love for glitter.

"Right, you 'defeated' me. A little birdy told me that you needed some help with this little Gideon problem of yours! I know you recognize those footprints," said Bill. What game was he playing at? Yes, Dipper knew, but why would Bill want to? _LALALALALALLEEE!_ Dipper kept throwing random thoughts, trying to block his mind reading abilities.

"I need to know who it was." Well, that was a surprise. Bill actually needed something from him.

"What will I get in return?" asked Dipper with uncertainty. Bill paused, apparently not expecting this response. He really should've though; Dipstick was still salty because of the trauma from three summers ago.

Cipher sighed, "Well, I was hoping you'd give up the information free of charge, but now, things are gonna be fun!" Dipper was afraid, but wasn't sure if the information was even worth it, even if the pain was fake. After all, he might not even be correct with his assumption.

He knew that pain in the Mindscape was only a figment of his imagination, so Dipper couldn't be physically hurt, but he still didn't want to feel that sort of thing again. It would be a fairly useless piece of information, but Dipper still didn't know why Bill needed it. "I'll tell you then, fine. As long as you don't use the information for...certain things. It isn't human, if I'm correct, but I don't know of how it could've escaped. The thing that killed Gideon was the Shapeshifter in Ford's lab, but last time I checked, it was frozen!" The experience was slowly dragging out horrible memories that were supposed to stay buried.

"Stanford, huh. Well, bye!" Bill said, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Dipper woke up, still unsure of why he had been visited, and how Bill was freed, and even why he wanted to know.

It wasn't like the shapeshifter could be possessed...or could it? If so, then it would have to be willingly, but last time it had wanted the journals, and Dipper knew that Cipher could probably just magically recreate them.

1st POV

I stayed up all night trying to fix it, but even through the hours of tireless work I only got a few loose bolts back in place. This was going nowhere, so I went upstairs to get some sleep for once.

Dipper and Mabel were already there: Dipper was breathing heavily as if in another world, Mabel was sound asleep, her arms wrapped tightly around Waddles. Suddenly, before I was able to fall asleep, Dipper shot up out of bed, terrified of something. "Bill, he's back!" Dipper managed to spit out, his breathing ragged. Mabel turned on the lights, and I felt my face turn red, then white as a sheet.

"No, Dipper, it's just another bad dream," replied Mabel, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"It wasn't, guys, we gotta go now. We have to find it before he does," Dipper explained. So, apparently, we were going out mystery-hunting early.

"How do you know and what do you mean?" shouted Mabel, who was now starting to recognize that Dipper might actually have had just a little nightmare. I tried to feign surprise despite the fact that it was partially, all my fault.

"Whoa, who's Bill?" The both turned to face me and suddenly realized that I was here to. The room was now completely silent. Mabel elbowed Dipper, signifying that he should explain, then she started whistling innocently.

"Well, to answer Mabel's question YES I'M SURE! I did a horrible thing...I told him who might've killed Gideon. It was only after I did so that I realized that if I were correct, then he could possess it! To answer Cherie," he paused and laughed nervously, "never mind all that?"

He seriously thought I would fall for that. Wow. Mabel elbowed him again, this time a little harder so that he wouldn't be stupid enough to lie again. "Fine, fine. Bill is an interdimensional demon who's sole purpose is to take over Earth, happy _Mabel?"_ She seemed satisfied with his response, and nodded tersely.

I had to look so stupid then, pretending that I had no idea other dimensions even existed. My mouth was open in an O, and I hoped that I was a good enough actress to pull this off. "So, ignoring the part that all physics and science is a lie, who killed Gideon?" I actually didn't know, didn't know _anything_ except for the fact that it was after the journals.

"I could be wrong, so don't assume or jump to conclusions, but remember that day when the AC was busted all over town? Now, Cherie, this won't make any sense to you, but it's the shapeshifter from Ford's lab," stuttered Dipper. I heard Mabel suck in a huge breath of air, and supposed that this was no average townsperson, but once again, thanks to Dipper's poor choice of wording, I now knew a little more about Stanford.

"Alright then, we leave for mystery hunting now, and remember, it could be anyone, so trust no one," concluded Mabel, and we began to search for the missing piece. So many people, but now that I knew them OK I would be better at spotting who was off. Lazy Susan was sweeping again, Tyler was still the mayor, Pacifica was as mean as ever. I really didn't get it: The whole thing was just searching for a needle in a stack of needles!

Then I noticed something that should've been there but wasn't. Nobody had noticed that Gideon was gone, not even his parents, because there were no missing signs, posters, in fact, everything was too normal. "Ah, the Pines twins! And who's fella next to you?" rang a familiar voice. We slowly turned around, and to our surprise, there was Gideon, completely unharmed.

"You don't remem-" Dipper put his hand over my mouth and I realized that the person standing in front of me _wasn't_ Gideon.

"Leave Cherie out of this!" yelled Mabel. There was now a small crowd gathering to see the chaos.

"Why don't we go somewhere a little more private, eh?" asked the false Gideon. Unwillingly, we obliged, because nobody wanted to see what was about to happen next. We entered the woods again, and I felt extremely unsafe. Mabel put a reassuring hand around my shoulder, and we followed the creepy child up until a small clearing.

"Where are they? You know what I came for, right?"

"The journals, yes?" I spoke up.

"Well, isn't she quick to learn! You have a nice form, human," it said, the monster's voice slowly morphing to match my own. It became taller, even matching the bag I had slung around my shoulder. I didn't realize truly how much makeup I wore, or how dark my hair was.

"Hmm, so that's what I seem like to everyone else," I said. It laughed eerily, sounding, well, just like me, and I supposed that was why it was so off-putting.

"Hand over the journals shortstack!" I should've thought of that name!

"Should we tell it the truth?" whispered Dipper to Mabel. I could overhear them, but I hoped that the monster couldn't. Mabel whispered back a response, but I didn't hear it this time.

"We don't have them with us currently. Is it OK if we go back to the Shack and get them?" Oh dear God, Dipper was a terrible liar. I could hear how robotic his voice sounded, and I instantly knew that they either didn't have the journals, the journals were destroyed or lost, and a final option of them having the journals on them right now. I doubted the last option and put my faith in option number one, because though I knew of _a_ journal, by the way everyone else put it, there was more than one. The shapeshifter, still looking like me, followed us to the Shack and waited outside.

"You have five minutes before I come in and kill you," it warned.

 **LOL!**

 **Cliffhangers are the only reason I write**

 **and also I write because then I can kill off any character I want just to make the reader angry**

 **so expect that**

 **not like I actually have a plan for episodes in the future or anything...**


	8. The Shifter

**OMIGOSH GUYS!**

 **I'm back!**

 **I can't believe it! I'm not dead!**

 **SO THEN...**

 **Stuff happens in this chapter, which you will find out from reading ;3\**

 **ummmmmm so tell me if this is canon or not i have no idea if I'm still following the storyline**

* * *

"C'mon guys, we have to find a knife! There's gotta be something in here we can use to defeat it!" yelled Dipper frantically.

Cherie dug through the drawers hoping that one of the plastic utensils would be sharp enough to pierce human skin. She wondered why they were plastic instead of metal, and noted it for a question to be discussed later. More strangeness that wouldn't be solved.

"Stan has to have something; he's a professional con-man?!" Mabel screamed. They were all scared and defenseless, probably because Dipper and Mabel had actually faced this creature before, but there was only one option left in Cherie's mind. Before even trying to solve the problem like a normal human being, she called for Cipher. He'd know what to do. She slumped to the floor, passed out, trying to gain the attention of Bill.

"Cherie!" said Mabel worriedly.

"We've got no time, just find a weapon, something! I'll wake her up," exclaimed Dipper. Mabel continued to rummage through the kitchen and proceeded to run down the hall to Stan's room next, bypassing the elevator. The sand in the hourglass was almost up though, and they still had nothing. "C'mon Cherie, get up!" said Dipper, lightly slapping her face.

Her eyelids didn't even so much as flutter when he next tried to shake her. Then he too fell into a dream. "Where am I?" he asked nobody. But he knew exactly where he was when he looked up and saw that everything around him had turned into a black-and-white movie. He had somehow been transported into Cherie's mind. Maybe Cherie had willed Dipper there, or maybe it was just random chance at work once again. He heard voices from around a few of the objects and thoughts floating in her mind.

He pushed a stray grandfather-clock aside and walked towards the direction of the sound. It was Cherie talking to someone, someone he had seen before recently. "Bill, do you have any idea how to defeat this thing?"

"Well, I really don't care about you fleshbags, but I've got a few ideas," but in a whisper that Dipper could not hear, "We've got company, Phoenix. He doesn't know you know me, got it?" Dipper realized that Bill and Cherie were talking over the terms of a deal, maybe. He began to run towards them.

"So then, what are you proposing, you monster?" she asked. _Oh no,_ thought Dipper.

"Well, I was sure we would be able to make a de-"

"Get away from her you immoral geometry question!" shouted Dipper. Cherie turned to face him, her mouth opened wide in surprise.

"He was about to offer a way to help! I don't know why you hate Bill so much!" That was going to take some explaining… Dipper grabbed Cherie's wrist and wrenched her away from Bill.

"Long story Cherie. All you need to know is that you can't trust something called a dream _demon_."

"Tick-tock Cherie, time's-a-wastin'! You've only got five minutes until that thing comes back to kill you… oh wait, now it's only two." The triangle laughed, amused that one of his greatest enemies was about to be killed by something so easily defeated. Dipper glared at the triangle, and shook his head, denying the presence of the deal.

Cherie and Dipper were thrown out of the Mindscape, back with Mabel, who had found a weapon ample enough to use against the shifter. It was a dagger, though nobody knew where she had found it. "So, what do we do now?" asked Cherie.

"One of us has to kill it," said Dipper, "with a rusty dagger from who-knows-where."

"Correction," interjected Mabel. "It was found in Stan's room." Dipper facepalmed at Mabel's attempt at a joke in the situation.

"Time's up!" called a voice sounding like Cherie's from outside. The shapeshifter was back, and it was angry.

1st POV

I just narrowly avoided a confrontation with Dipper and him asking how I knew Bill before he knew Bill was back. He had told me just in time; Dipper had found a way into my conversation with him. But he had no idea why exactly I was summoned just like that when in reality, it was _I_ who had summoned him. If anything, Bill would have known I was related to the Pines' twins and _avoided_ making a deal in that situation, no matter of what use I would be to him.

The shapeshifter chose that time to end its count of five minutes, and, still transformed into me, it burst into the shack. I just hoped that the knife Mabel had found would be enough to defeat it. "Where are the journals?" it asked.

"Listen," said Dipper in earnest, "we kind of don't exactly have them right now."

If that were a horror movie, he'd have been the first to die. Then, the monster lunged, twisting into a form more suited for combat. A spider-thing, with my elongated face a mask plastered on the front. It crawled up the wall, head rotating a full 360 degrees to still be able to see upright. It hissed, and dropped down on, of all people, me.

Mabel and Dipper were frozen in place for a second, but that was as long as it took. It raised one of the limbs, transforming it into a sharp spoke, then it came down to me. It was about to pierce through my heart's left chamber when Mabel, still holding the small knife, dove forwards and stuck it into the monster's side.

But the monster was already hell-bent on stabbing me, and though its aim was altered slightly, it did not miss my body. The spike cut through my torso, hitting in between two ribs. The gap between them wasn't as wide as the full spike, and it was the only thing that kept the thing from stabbing all the way through. But it broke one of my ribs in the process. I wheezed, each breath a laboring sigh that shuffled around the fractured bone inside of my chest cavity. It was agonizing.

Mabel and Dipper continued to battle the thing, which was much easier since they had already stabbed it once and its energy was being sapped from its body. It shifted frantically in dying moments, one a screaming form of Dipper, one Wendy, and more horrifying creatures that I could not begin to describe.

Either that or I was starting to hallucinate from the pulsating wound set in my chest. The monster let out a dysphonia-screech and bled out. Mabel had actually stabbed something, fought against a monster while Dipper distracted it. I had never seen that side of her before. Then they noticed I had been wounded. I looked down at my chest and saw that the wound was pulsating and that the veins next to it were turning to a black-purple color. There had been poison in the shapeshifter's limb. My body convulsed, thrashed about on the floor. Two things happened in the moments after that; Stan chose to walk in then, and my mind chose to shut down.

I was in the Grayscale before I woke back to reality. "Well, well, well, the little Phoenix, you have quite the knack for getting yourself into trouble," called a voice. It was Bill.

"What happened?" I asked groggily.

"Well, right now, you're in a hospital on life-support, about to flatline. Unless someone were to, y'know, help you out." I remembered what had happened; I had been stabbed by a poisonous spike that belonged to none other than the shapeshifter. The doctors wouldn't have seen anything like it since it came from something supernatural… there would be no shield to protect the poison from ravaging my body.

"So," I sighed, "What's the price this time?" He squinted his single eye into a "thinking" expression. "Hmmm… how about temporary use of a thing you own?" Oh, how tricky demons could be.

"How temporary?" I asked, suspicious.

"Just a few hours, maybe less," he said slyly. On the one hand, I could have died from that. But on the other hand… I was already dying. And what thing could he possibly take of mine? Sure, I had a camera, some clothes that I'd hate to miss but weren't exactly my life. It seemed like an awful deal on his part, which was what the last deal sounded like too, though I had no idea how powerful a "favor" was. He extended the blue-flamed hand.

"Deal."

* * *

 **YAYAYAYAYYAYAYAYYYY!**

 **I'm still so ecstatic that I remembered about this little fanfic!  
I hope to update on a schedule of like, once a week? idk how this is supposed to work I've always been terrible with deadlines. **

**Comment what you think the new deal is ;)**

 **SEE YA NEXT TIME, SKIN PUPPETS!**


	9. Confession Possession

**hehehehehehhhehehehe**

 **hehehehehehehehe**

 **ehehehehehehe**

 **hehehehe**

 **nyeh...heh...heh?**

 **I'm not even gonna bother apologizing for this one**

 **shoutout to NinaEverblade: the best darn guesser of all time!**

 **~Enjoy~**

* * *

I woke up in a hospital room, people standing all around me. Ford had even come out to see my condition, but there was no sign of mine or the twins' parents. Which was kind of disappointing, to say the least. The first person who spoke though was the voice inside of my head, from Bill. _**I can't believe you fell for the same thing Dipper did!**_

 _What do you mean the same thing Dipper did? And what was that 'thing' you wanted from me?_

 _ **Oh, you haven't guessed? Hahahaha! This is going to be even more fun!**_

I felt a pressure being put on the center of my being, crushing my soul against a corner of my body. I screamed. "Stanford what's happening?!" I had no clue why he was the first name I shouted, but he had more experience in mystery hunting than Dipper and Mabel, and I mutually trusted him more.

"She wasn't supposed to survive, Stanley. What does this mean?" Stanford muttered to more himself than Stanley. Then, I wasn't in my own body anymore. Bill had completely taken it.

"Woah, has it been a long time! Let's see… I haven't inhabited a _female_ of the species for centuries! Why is my chest so heavy?" he asked, patting my breasts.

"Oh no, you don't!" I shouted through my floating spirit. Though nobody else heard me, I knew that Bill did.

"Sheesh kid, I only need this vessel for a short period. You're lucky you thought of that time-limit," he said. By now, I hoped that the Pines had noticed my pupils were slits and I was speaking in gibberish. Turning his attention towards everyone else, the not-me spoke. "Heya Sixer!" Bill was insane!

But before he could utter any more words, spells, or tricks, Ford picked up the IV drip and smashed my head. I winced but didn't feel any pain. When Bill woke back up, or more precisely, when I was back into my body, that would hurt like hell.

* * *

I - Bill - stirred from the knockout before, rubbed my head, and laughed maniacally. I didn't think that he noticed he was strapped by leather bonds to a medical examination table in giant spacecraft. Or even that all of the Pines were staring at my body like it was some sort of foreign contamination. Ford, Dipper, and Mabel were standing around me, quizzical expressions on their faces. And fear.

"Oh my God pain is so funny I almost forgot!" exclaimed Bill.

"How? After I told Cherie that you were not to be trusted… she didn't believe me!" said Dipper, not taking notice about Bill's previous statement on pain.

"Dipper, this is hardly the time for that. Who knows, Cherie was on the verge of death! You have no right to judge her until we know more. We should figure out how he got in there in the first place, and how he's alive!" Dipper obliged, a distrustful frown still on his face.

"So then, how do we get him out?" asked Dipper, "And where the heck is Cherie?"

"In the Mindscape. You were possessed once - she could be anywhere by now! She doesn't have any ties to that vessel; for all we know she went to France!" said Ford.

"Hi guys, I'm still here!" said a crazed Bill. "Nice to see you again, Sixer, Pine Tree, and my darling Shooting Star. You're quieter than usual today." I just now noticed that the reason Ford was called Sixer was because of his extra abnormal appendage. Nobody told me anything anymore! Not like it mattered when I was by scientific definition nonexistent at the moment.

Bill thrashed in my body, trying weakly to break the thick straps that held my body to the gurney. "It was getting pretty boring with that metal plate in your head, but we all get to meet face-to-face again!" He said again. Like he had been in this world before and met them. But that wasn't a far-fetched possibility on the growing list, after all, I had followed them into a spaceship.

Yet, if he used to be a statue, then they could have been the ones to make him into that state. How dangerous was Bill after all? Another mental note to bring up in a discussion.

"What kind of deal did you force Cherie into anyways?"

Cipher made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Not _deal_ , Pine Tree my friend, _deals._ Forgotten your plurals already?" said Bill.

"Oh no," said Dipper, "No no no no!"

"I agree, this is bad. But Cherie could have made two deals just to keep herself alive when she was in the hospice, right?" asked Ford.

"Bingo! I missed your logic Fordsy," said Bill.

"While I have no idea on what terms the deals were made… I want to thank you. Cherie - her soul, mostly - is alive because of that deal no matter what," said Dipper reluctantly.

"Mabel. What happened to Cherie, exactly?" asked Ford. I had forgotten she was there, mostly because she was so quiet and hadn't spoken once throughout the whole mini-interrogation.

"Umm," she blushed. "Well, it's a long story."

"We've got time," said Ford.

"Not all of us," Bill laughed crazily. Even though he made it sound like he had the upper hand, his time of the deal was running out fast. It had been two hours, and a few couldn't be much more than that.

"Err, so we accidentally got her involved in the supernatural when she went out to do some stuff and she found that Gideon was dead and then Dipper caught her and they told me then Bill came back from God-knows-where and it turns out that on the record-heat day the shapeshifter from your old lab escaped it was the one who killed Gideon then it went after the journals but they're destroyed," she paused to take a breath and shot an angry glance at Bill, another note for conversation, "so it attacked us and it went after Cherie and stabbed her with some sort of whatever and then Stan walked in and took her to the hospital and then you were there, so you know the rest." She smiled guiltily at the foggy and rapid explanation.

"So, a poisonous-limbed shapeshifter did this?" asked Ford.

"Yep," affirmed Mabel.

"No wonder the doctors couldn't fix it… it could have been any number of things that the shapeshifter had seen. Quick question though - where's the shapeshifter now?"

"Dead."

Ford seemed surprised that two teenage kids could take down a monster he had spent years researching. "So then, Bill, under what terms were the deals made?" he asked.

"Well, let's see… in exchange for her body, her soul lived! How poetic, and quite honestly, fair," Bill answered. Not a complete truth, but enough to freak out the twins.

"So you'll be in there forever? Even if Cherie finds a vessel?" asked Mabel, her voice starting to crack. Cipher nodded vigorously. Lies, they were. He'd only be in there for an hour more at least. But that wasn't what they thought.

"Twins, I'm sorry, but we're going to have to… dispose of Cherie's body. It'll get rid of Bill, since the body's now his. We should also find Cherie, wherever she is, a vessel before her soul fades out completely in a few days. I'm surprised the deal is this straightforward and fair though… what other tricks… "

 _Oh no, no no no no no! They were going to kill me?!_ Bill just smiled, not protesting the idea of my body being destroyed and cleansed in a various manner of ways.

"Go ahead," he said. But the demon shouldn't have said anything. He should have protested, screamed even if he wanted my body to be incinerated. Otherwise they'd all get suspicious.

"What do you mean go ahead?" Mabel asked on cue. "If you really wanted her body that badly, why're you going to just let it crumble? That's like saving her for free!" Dipper and Ford just started to get caught on.

"That's because it isn't his… yet," noticed Dipper, "it's a temporary loan from Cherie. Why would she do that though? And why would Bill agree on such terms that favored her?"

"Aww, Pine Tree, I just wanted to say hi for a moment, perhaps trick you into killing Cherie, the usual," said the demon.

"What are you playing at now, Cipher?"

"Oh, I dunno, it's just so fun to be in a human body!"

"Wait a second," said Ford, "He mentioned something about multiple deals, remember?"

Bill answered truthfully this time, to my dismay. "Well, how do you think she knew to go looking for trouble in the middle of the night and 'accidentally' stumbled upon Gideon's dead body? How do you think I got back without notice and with my full powers too?"

"Why would Cherie free Bill?" asked Mabel.

"Oh, the miserable meat-sack had no clue what she was doing, and in exchange for some of the town's secrets, I got her to give me a _favor_ too." He smiled evilly. Apparently a _favor_ wasn't just something like doing someone's homework for them then, because Ford wore a look of horror.

"Are you sure it was a favor you called for?" he whispered. More laughter.

"A favor indeed Sixer. A favor indeed."

"Oh no."

* * *

 **Ooooh *ghost noises* I wonder what a favor is**

 **just kidding I know what everything is and exactly how it ends or we wouldn't be there**

 **but i need some 'middle material'**

 **I've always been bad at filling in what happens between the beginning and the end**

 **any suggestions?**

 **anyways, thanks for all of your support**

 **I wouldn't be here without you :3**


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